


Flowers and Chocolates

by MyUncreativeUserSorry



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Cute, Getting Together, Gifts, Hopeful Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 09:37:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19226485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyUncreativeUserSorry/pseuds/MyUncreativeUserSorry
Summary: Pining from afar gets ridiculous once you start sending each other notes instead of speaking.





	Flowers and Chocolates

It all started on a Tuesday.

 

Dex had been just finishing up at Tinkers Autoshop when the customer whose car he had serviced presented him with a $20 gift card as thanks.

 

It wasn’t an abnormal occurrence per sae, but usually people didn’t carry around Ice Cream gift cards to throw at unsuspecting mechanics. Mechanics who happened to be allergic to dairy. Not that the customer had any way of knowing that of course.

 

Initially he’d planned to give it to the triplets and watch them squabble over it, which would certainly have been entertaining. That plan flew out the window once he arrived back at his apartment and was nearly bowled over by his neighbor. A tall man with dark hair and bright eyes, looking unfairly attractive in blue nursing scrubs.

 

He hurried past Dex with a muttered apology and a dazzling smile before disappearing into the elevator. Dex decided that maybe his siblings wouldn’t enjoy the gift card after all. Five minutes later found him leaving an envelope outside his neighbours door containing the card and a note,

 

‘Was given this today but I’m allergic to dairy. Thought you might get more use out of it. - Dex (Apt. 763)’

 

He spends the rest of the evening keeping himself busy so he doesn’t chicken out, and he finds the envelope gone the next morning.

 

It took three days for his neighbor to show any recognition to the strange gift. It came in the form of a candle in front of his door. Dex lifted it to find a note taped to the bottom, a dopey smile splitting his face.

 

‘Thank you for the ice cream. I know you probably have enough of these scented candles (I can smell them through the wall) but what’s one more? Plus they were out if gift cards. - Fitz (Apt. 765)’

 

Dex blushed slightly, he didn’t have that many scented candles, just 10 or so that he cycled through when he was home. White Gardenia would fit well with his collection though, he decided as he brought it inside.

 

\---

 

Fitz had been surprised to find the envelope, trooping back home from the hospital at 5 in the morning. Yet he was thrilled when he discovered who it was from. He had noticed the man the day he’d moved into the apartment beside his own, nearly a year ago. They had never spoken before, only smiled at each other from across the hall or (like yesterday, he remembered with embarrassment) run into one another in Fitz's rush to get to work. He only saw the redhead when he was leaving, never coming back home- probably because it was too early in the morning. Maybe the occasional glance around town but Fitz was never able to bring himself to say hello. At least he finally had a name to put to the face.

 

Too nervous to thank Dex in person Fitz scrambled for some gesture to return. Within two days he had basically given up, nothing felt quite right. Then while he wandered aimlessly through the shopping centre two days later, picking up some gift for his sister, he came across a store called ‘White Barn’.

 

The scent wafting from it reminded him of the smell that lingered through the hall when Dex left his door open for a while. He headed into the store with renewed vigor, and left the gift at the door, only after Dex had already arrived home from work.

 

\---

 

Two months passed and the gift giving continued, a single word was yet to be said between the two men. Autumn arrived with little fanfare, and with it came the promise of holiday family get togethers.

The evening of Thanksgiving brought a tall woman to Fitzes doorstep. Her dark hair and teal eyes made it easy to tell who she was. At her side stood a much shorter woman whose blonde hair was interwoven with tiny braids. A toddler clutching tightly to a sparkly stuffed dinosaur was perched on her hip.

 

“What do you suppose this is?” The tall woman mused to her wife, bending down to pick up a gift basket, containing a couple chocolates, from the carpet.

 

“Another one of your brothers admirers probably.” The blonde woman said while knocking on the door.

 

“It’s got a note.” She flips the paper and reads it aloud,

 

“‘Got it yesterday, too bad it’s all milk chocolate’ then there's a sad face, ‘Happy Thanksgiving! From Dex’” before anything further could be said the door is pulled open to reveal Fitz, his hair a damp mess and his tux not quite fully done up.

 

“Biana, Marella! You guys are early.” He exclaims, opening the door wider for the three to enter.

 

“It’s called being fashionably early.” The blonde woman, Marella, smirks. The baby on her hip babbled and reached to grab at Fitz.

 

“Yes, hello to you too Orem, I see you’re enjoying Mr. Snuggles.” Fitz beams, booping the nose of the sparkly, red stuffed dragon he had given his nephew for his first birthday earlier that year. His eyes widened when he noticed the basket in his sister’s arms. “What’s that?”

 

“Oh, just a little something from your admirer.” She teased, “Who’s Dex?”

 

Fitz grabbed the basket from her hands. ‘He’s just my neighbor.” He mumbled defensively, pulling the note from the basket. “We exchange gifts sometimes.”

 

“That’s adorable,” Biana coos, ‘Have you asked him on a date yet?” She questioned, mostly to poke fun. Fitz looked away and ran a hand through his wet hair, Biana was surprised to realize he was embarrassed.

 

“We’ve never actually spoken.” He admitted before reading over the note, a bright grin blooming as he did so.

 

“You have never spoken to him, and yet you’re still smitten.” Marella said, setting the brown haired baby down to wander. “Please tell me that you have a gift for him in return at least.”

 

Fitz shut down at that question, his face going blank. Biana knew immediately that he was hiding something. His only tell being the pink blush fanning over his cheeks. He mumbled some excuse about needing to get ready and picked the child up off the ground.

 

“You and Mr. Snuggles will keep me safe from your mommies right, O?” He asked, giving Orem a kiss on the forehead. Orem yelped something unintelligible and gleeful as they disappeared into the washroom.

 

“So, if he’s not going to tell us…” Marella trailed off, side eyeing her wife with a conspiring expression.

 

“You check the kitchen and I’ll check the bedroom?” Biana offered.

 

\---

 

“You got him flowers!” Orem stared wide eyed at the door his parents had just thrown open. Thankfully he hadn’t started crying.

 

“What have I told you about snooping through my house!” Fitz yelled back. His tux finally on properly and his hands in his hair attempting to smooth it out. “You didn’t even wait 5 minutes!”

 

“You’re the one who left them on the counter, with a note, where anyone can see it.” Marella pointed out calmly.

 

“I didn’t think I needed to hide it, I was going to leave it before you guys got here!” He defended while finally turning from the mirror to face them, red in the face.

 

“You, dear brother, are so far gone. Just ask him out already!” Biana exclaimed, gesturing at the bouquet in Marella’s hand.

 

Fitz rolled his eyes, “I’m not asking him out, okay Biana? No matter how much you want me to!”  

 

Biana moved to protest but Fitzes glare pushed the words back into her mouth. Marella placed her hand on her wife's arm.

 

“At least leave it at his door when we leave for your parents. It’s only fair.” Marella said, Fitz didn’t grace it with a reply.

 

Ten minutes later they all stood at the door, Biana with Orem in arm and Fitz with the bouquet and note clutched in his fist. He planned on dropping it at the door on their way to the garage. To his surprise though, the hallway was far from empty. In front of Dex’s door, stood the man himself squabbling with 3 people who looked a few years younger.

 

Fitz slowly started to back up.

 

“He looks busy, I’ll just - uh - do it tomorrow.” He stuttered.

 

“Oh no you don’t.” Biana pushed him forward. He nearly bowled over one of the four, the only girl in the group. They all looked similar, obviously related, yet Dex still stood out. His hair a couple shades lighter than the dark auburn of his relatives and his eyes were a beautiful mix of blue and purple, one that Fitz had never imagined seeing.

 

It took a moment for him to realize that he was standing and staring like a dumb fool. Everyone was looking at him and the bouquet in his hand. That reminded him, the bouquet, the bouquet for Dex.

 

“Uh…” he struggled to find words for a moment. “Happy Thanksgiving!” he finally burst out, thrusting the bouquet into the hand of a bewildered Dex before hurrying down the hall, not even bothering with the elevator and running down the stairs.

 

\---

 

Dex watched Fitz disappear down the hall, completely dumbfounded and sure that his face looked like it was on fire. He barely registered the two women leaving behind Fitz, too caught up in how incredibly attractive the taller man had looked in that tux.

 

When the world came back into focus a moment later all he could hear was his siblings snickering.

 

“You finally got yourself a boyfriend, Dex?” Bex giggled, “Be careful, I think you’re drooling.’

 

“Shut up.” He grumbled, pushing them into his apartment.

 

It took 15 minutes for the rest of the family to arrive, and he naively thought it would stop the incessant prodding from the triplets.

 

“Why couldn’t we have done this somewhere else? There’s no room anywhere!” He cried, looking around at his parents, his aunt and uncle, their daughter Sophie, and her boyfriend Keefe, the latter who was puttering around the kitchen as the unlucky chosen meal cooker.

 

“Just be glad my side of the family isn’t here.” Kesler winked, Dex shuddered at the thought of having his 5 other uncles and aunts and their demonic offspring here to invade his privacy.

 

“We didn’t want you to have anywhere to escape to.” His cousin, Sophie, added with a grin.

 

“We just want you to be happy, Dex.” Juline, his mother, said laying a hand on his shoulder placatingly.

 

“So you staged an elaborate intervention on a holiday to force me to get a date, all because I’ve been single for a measly two years.” Dex deadpanned, looking around at the people seated at his kitchen table.

 

“Yeah, but it turns out it’s not necessary, you’ve found someone to get down and dirty with all on your own.” Keefe called from the stove. The triplets howled with laughter at the comment.

 

“Keefe!” Grady admonished, Keefe just guffawed and continued scurrying around the kitchen.

 

Dex banged his head on the table with a groan.

 

He was able to make it through the meal with minimal mental strain, thankfully. He had suffered through the agony of the triplets explaining every detail of his earlier encounter with Fitz. It only took a couple minutes after the food arrived for everyone to stop pestering about the Mystery Man’s name. Though the suspicious glances from Keefe were somewhat unsettling he had to admit.

 

After dinner, people started to trickle out until only Sophie, Keefe, and Sophie's parents were left.

 

He stole away from their prying eyes with the excuse of going to the washroom. Instead he went to his room, his hand touching the note in his pocket that had been attached to the flowers. Thankfully he’d hidden it before the triplets had gotten ahold of it, simply for the sake of the small amount of dignity he still had. For a moment he got distracted by the memory of how gorgeous Fitz had looked. Obviously, he’d been off to somewhere fancy, his hair had been gelled back in a way that gave Dex the inexplicable longing to run his fingers through it and muss it up.

 

“This doesn’t look very much like a bathroom, mate.” A voice said behind him, he cursed himself for forgetting to close the door behind him.

 

‘Last time I checked, it’s my house, Keefe- I can do what I want.” Dex defended, turning to face the blond.

 

“Oh calm down Dexy, I was just curious about Mr. Blue eyes.” Dex was considering murdering those triplet goblins. Keefe just smiled as Dex fixed him with an unimpressed glance. “Come on, I just wanna help you out. You know that there’s no better person to fix your love problem than Keefster Cupid Extraordinaire!” He flourished.

 

Dex held for a moment longer, but finally crumbled. He dropped to the bed with a loud sigh, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes until he could see stars.

 

“I just don’t know what to do!” he groused, “He only spoke to me for the first time tonight, but we’ve been leaving each other stuff for a while. We leave each other notes too, I didn’t think anyone had printing as perfect as his.” he explained, gesturing blindly in the direction of the section of his dresser that was dedicated to the trinkets Fitz had left. He heard Keefe walk towards it. It was kind of stupid to fall for someone because of notes, Dex was aware, but the elegant way Fitz wrote, mixed with his beautiful smile was enough to steal Dex’s heart.

 

“Do I get to know a name?” Keefe questioned, Dex peeked at him and saw that he was looking at that first candle, it was nearly burned down to the bottom by this point.

 

“Fitz.” He eventually admitted with a sigh, “His name is Fitz, he’s my neighbour.” He repeated more loudly.

 

Needless to say he was incredibly surprised to hear Keefe break out into laughter. He sat up to find Keefe nearly doubled over.

 

“My god this is gold!” He said between hiccups, “You’re the one who- I can’t even-” He stammered.

 

“What? Do you know him? Do you know something!” Dex asked, his eyes wide with confusion and anticipation. Keefe slowly got ahold of himself and looked Dex in the eye.

 

“All I have to say to you, my friend, is shoot your shot. Just ask him out.” He chuckled slightly, reaching out to ruffle Dexes hair on his way out of the room. “That’s Keefster’s Cupid advice for you.” Dex just watched him leave, unsure of what on earth to think.

 

The rest of his family left immediately afterwards, Dex going through the motions as he said goodbye, his mind occupied by the conversation with Keefe. He definitely didn’t miss the look Keefe shot him as he walked out the door though.

 

 _Well_ , he thought as he crawled into bed a couple minutes later, _I certainly have something to sleep on_.

 

\---

 

Fitz spent the entire day after Thanksgiving in a dilemma. He’d arrived home to find a text from Keefe that basically told him to get his ass in gear about this whole gift situation. Paired with gushing from the girls the entire drive to and from his parents house.

 

Thankfully, neither of them spilled the beans to his parents, the meddlesome parents they were.

 

At 7:30 he decided he’d wasted enough time, so intent on ignoring his problem Fitz had spent nearly the entire day either asleep or binging netflix.

 

He sat down on the couch to brainstorm. Where would he even take Dex? What if he’d read the signals wrong? What if he was moving too fast and they should just try and be friends first.

 

20 minutes later he had his scrubs on and a folded sheet of paper in his hand. He had decided on a coffee shop he’d visited a couple of times which he knew carried dairy-free options.  

 

He read it over once more before placing it at Dex’s door.

 

“I want to make this about more than passing gifts, how does a date sound? Meet me at Song’s Coffeehouse on Sunday at 2. If you’re interested. - Fitz (P.s. I really hope you’re interested.)

 

\---

 

Dex had been in a muddle the entire day at work. Yet finally as he stepped into the elevator to go up to his apartment he had a plan. A note he’d written earlier during the day weighed down in his pocket and Keefe's words from the night before looped through his mind. He had only just decided to leave the note where Fitz could find it on the next morning, and that decision was shaky at best.

 

When the elevator opened on the 7th floor he was faced with a pair of teal eyes. Fitz stood in front of him, looking like a fish out of water, he turned away from the elevator and instead headed towards the stairwell silently.

 

The strangeness of the act unsettled Dex and left him wondering if he should just scrap the note because obviously wasn’t interested. The flowers could have simply been a friendly gesture instead of the romantic offering he so wished it was.

 

He was so busy thinking that he didn’t notice the paper on the ground until he stepped on it. Cautiously he picked it up and unfolded it, expecting the worst. His lips framed the words as he read, a warmth building in his chest.  With the two notes in hand he found he couldn’t wait.

 

He flew down the stairs, nearly pushing over a poor man just trying to climb up. He saw Fitz after only 2 stories, the man seemed unaware of his pursuer. Dex grabbed onto his hand and pulled him to a stop on a landing. Fit let out a startled yelp but didn’t pull away once he saw who it was, only stood there looking bewildered.

 

“I just-” Dex began, trying to explain himself and finding he couldn’t find the words. ‘Here.” He held out the note. Fitz took it silently, but as he read a giddy expression grew on his face. Dex couldn’t help but beam back at him.

 

“I’m hoping you’ve taken these gifts to mean the same thing I have (Or else this would be weird) I’m also hoping you’ll agree to go on a date with me, I’ll be at Song’s Coffeehouse at 2, I really hope you come - Dex”

 

Teal eyes met periwinkle in a rush of emotion.

 

“I guess I’ll see you Sunday then.” Fitz said softly.

 

It didn’t matter if they stood in that stairwell holding each other's hands and smiling like doofuses for a little too long, because they were the only ones around to see it.


End file.
